As baseball returns, here’s my wish list for the 2020 St. Louis Cardinals season

I can’t believe we’ve got to this point but, barring some dramatic turn of events at the last moment, it appears we’re finally going to have some baseball to watch in 2020.

Despite the loss of players here and there to COVID-19 infection, teams will work through a short schedule that, hopefully, will end in playoffs and a World Series just like every other season for the past 150 years.

I don’t know, the way things are going, if we’ll get to October without an outbreak that would shut baseball down. Regardless, it feels like winning a World Series after only 60 regular season games would be cheapened.

So I think the St. Louis Cardinals would be wise to take a long view, trying to set themselves up for 2021, 2022 and 2023 instead of gambling everything on a season to be forgotten.

So to kick off the season, here’s my 2020 St. Louis Cardinals wish list:

Cardinals should put faith in Jack Flaherty and Dakota Hudson

First, lets see what they have in the kids. Jack Flaherty had a breakout in the second half of 2019. I hate to see a season of control wasted on a lost year, but that can’t be helped. So, I’d at least like to see the most made of the opportunity and have Flaherty show the polish and efficiency he flashed 10 months ago every time out in 2020 to truly establish himself as the ace of the team.

Dakota Hudson is a step behind Flaherty, but he has a chance to work on things and become a strong number two pitcher.

It’s a shame that Jordan Hicks was forced to opt out of the season because of COVID-19 fears related to his diabetes. Even if he isn’t quite ready yet, it would be nice to see him get a few innings under his belt in preparation for next year.

Another guy that I am eager to see in 2020 is Ryan Helsley who seems to me to have the attributes it would take to make a killer closer, although the Redbirds seem to not yet be convinced that his optimum place isn’t in the starting rotation. In simulated pitching on baseball-reference.com, Helsley has projected to a 1.29 earned run average with one game started and eight games finished. He’s allowed 36 hits in 53 1/3 innings pitched and has struck out 60 while walking 22. I’d sure like to see those numbers transfer into real life.

Hopefully, Cardinals play Dylan Carlson and Nolan Gorman

Second, I’d like to see youth served in the outfield and have Dylan Carlson play so well that the Cardinals can’t take him out of the lineup. Carlson, and fellow youngsters like Lane Thomas and even Tyler O’Neill will basically have a chance to amass a couple of hundred big league at bats in real game situations. We’re going into 2020 not knowing what to expect from the kids. Hopefully, this short season will let us know who’s for real and who isn’t when it’s time to build the roster for 2021.

The Cardinals have a lot of roster churn on the horizon over the next year or two with some veterans reaching the end of the line. We need to know who can assume the veterans’ responsibilities and where the Cardinals will have to look outside of the organization for help.

While he’s a little bit farther away than Carlson, I’d really like to see Nolan Gorman get a shot to play in this odd season. While you don’t want to burn his service time on a whim, it’s hard to imaging letting a guy who is a top prospect completely miss out on an entire minor league year of development.

Can Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler bounce back?

Finally, I’d love to see Matt Carpenter and Dexter Fowler have huge bounce back years and create a situation in which they have some trade value. It’s seemingly more likely with Carpenter because of his power potential and his expanded market thanks to the (dreaded) designated hitter being added to the National League.

I’m not trying to knock these guys, but they’re both going to be in their late thirties and in the last year of their contracts next season. Between the two of them, they’ll be owed well over $30 million dollars and they’re simply not a part of the future of this club. The Cardinals should be in the mood to shed payroll in 2021 thanks to the lost revenue of this season, so they could cut loose one or two guys who aren’t in their plans and do things the easy way.

If they can’t get rid of Carpenter or Fowler’s contract, they might have to think about parting ways with Kolten Wong and putting Tommy Edman at second base to make the budget balance. And any thoughts of bringing back Yadier Molina and/or Adam Wainwright might have to be abandoned, no matter how well they play in 2020.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.